Unemployment benefits

In the Turkish unemployment system, an insured person has to have worked for at least 600 days within the last three years.I have received a question from Yunmin about unemployment insurance. He asks:Dear Mr Sadettin Orhan,After the Unemployment Insurance Act was passed in 1999, have "conditions for unemployment benefits,” "benefit duration," and "calculation of benefit amount" remained unchanged? May I know the maximum and minimum unemployment insurance benefit for 2010?”Dear Yunmin, in the Turkish unemployment system, an insured person has to have worked for at least 600 days within the last three years, and has to have worked continuously for the last 120 days prior to leaving the job. Unemployment Insurance operates on a compulsory basis. Those insured under the said Act, whose contracts of employment have been terminated, are entitled to receive unemployment benefits provided that:· They apply to İş-Kur, declaring that they are ready to work· They have worked as insured at least for 600 days within the last three years· They have continuously worked and paid premiums for the last 120 days prior to leaving the jobThe unemployment benefit duration varies depending on the work period and premium payment. Workers who have continuously paid premiums for the last 120 days before the termination of employment contracts and fulfill the following requirements are paid the unemployment insurance payment during the corresponding periods, when:· Insured, unemployed persons who have worked and paid unemployment premiums for 600 days within the last three years receive payments for 180 days· Insured, unemployed persons who have worked and paid unemployment premiums for 900 days within the last three years receive payments for 240 days· Insured, unemployed persons who have worked and paid unemployment premiums for 1,080 days within the last three years receive payments for 300 daysThe daily unemployment benefit is 40 percent of the previous net earnings of the insured, being calculated by taking into account the earnings of the last four months that constitute the basis for the premium. Unemployment benefits are paid to the unemployed worker on a monthly basis at the end of each month. According to the above-mentioned Act, unemployment insurance benefits cannot exceed 80 percent of gross minimum wage.For the second six months of 2010, the maximum unemployment insurance benefit is 608.4 Turkish Liras. For the same period, the minimum unemployment insurance benefit is 304.2 liras.Incompetence of expertsFollowing an e-mail sent by a reader, I can not solve this problem, but at least as presented in this column can contribute to the solution. He asks:Dear Orhan,In 2006 a bond worth 500,000 euros with apparent signatures of me and my wife for payment was submitted to a court in Istanbul. We had no knowledge of the bond and denied signing it. That is when our agony started.At this moment (four years later) three separate institutes have analyzed the bond and all three have come to different conclusions. At first Adli Tip Istanbul stated that our signatures were forged. However our opponent appealed and the Istanbul Police criminal department was invited to analyze the bond. Their conclusion was that the signatures were genuine but that the bond was composed of parts of other documents. So the signatures were real but the bond was fake.Our opponent appealed again. This time the bond went to the gendarmerie in Ankara. Their conclusion was that my signature was real, and my wife’s signature was forged.I am now convicted to pay 200,000 euros worth in Turkish Liras. And I appealed this time.My question is how is it possible that three institutes come to such different conclusions. I believe it is because of the incompetence of these experts.At this moment it looks more like a lottery than a science. Best regards, A. L.”Hurriyet Daily News/03.09.2010